"Those among the rich who are not, in the rigorous sense, damned, can understand poverty, because they are poor themselves, after a fashion— they cannot understand destitution. Capable of giving alms, perhaps, but incapable of stripping themselves bare, they will be moved, to the sound of beautiful music, at Jesus’s sufferings, but His Cross, the reality of His Cross, will horrify them." Léon Bloy

01 September 2016

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - A Nation of Servants

The PMI number came in much lower than expected this morning at 49.4, an outright contraction.

This was dismissed by some as indicative of manufacturing, which is no longer very important to GDP as compared to the 'service sector.'

All eyes will be on the Non-Farm Payrolls report, probably to an excess, because the thinking is that a stronger number will give the hawks cover to arm twist a 25 bp rate increase at the FOMC in September.

A much lower than expected number will chill that expectation, and will probably cheer on financial asset prices unless it is disastrous.

The expected number is 180,000 and the 'whisper' is 200,000.

After the initial reaction, wiser heads will be looking at the prior month's revision from 255,000 if any. And probably more importantly, they will look at the growth in average hourly earnings.

The financiers and the Democratic establishment would like a number north of 200k. This would give the former a stronger dollar to eat you with my foreign dears, and the latter a boost for their presidential candidate who hopes to ride in on waves of Obama brand economicolatry.

Le Propriétaire

I make every attempt to respect the rights of others. If you feel that something here has infringed your work please let me know and I will correct it immediately. It is not always easy to determine the status of material posted to the Internet with regard to fair use and public domain.

Need Little - Want Less - Love More

The Banks must be restrained, and the financial system reformed, with balance restored to the economy, before there can be any sustainable recovery.

"In the Incarnation the whole human race recovers the dignity of the image of God. Thereafter, any attack even on the least of men is an attack on Christ, who took on the form of man, and in his own Person restored the image of God in all. Through our relationship with the Incarnation, we recover our true humanity, and at the same time are delivered from that perverse individualism which is the consequence of sin, and recover our solidarity with all mankind." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"A credibility trap is when the managerial functions of a society have been sufficiently compromised by corruption so that the leadership cannot reform, or even honestly address, the problems of that system without implicating a broad swath of the powerful, including themselves.

The moneyed interests and their aspirants tolerate the corruption because they have profited from it, and would like to continue to do so. Discipline is maintained by various forms of soft financial rewards and career and social coercion."

These are personal observations about the economy and the markets. In providing information, I hope this allows you to make your own decisions in an informed manner, even if it is from learning by my mistakes, which are many. As a standing policy I never provide individual investment advice to anyone. I will only occasionally disclose my personal positions for purposes of illustration. Understand that my own circumstances could differ greatly from your own, and therefore what is suitable for me may not be suitable for you. My comments are intended to be reflection on general macro financial and economic events and trends.